Card game

ABSTRACT

A golf-themed card game in which each player&#39;s cards are initially dealt in a face-down board is disclosed. Each player in succession may choose a card from a drawing stock or from the discard pile to replace a card in the player&#39;s board. Once each of the cards in any player&#39;s board are all face up, each other player is allowed one additional turn. The game is then scored by totaling the numerical value for all cards in each player&#39;s board, with identical cards in the same column not being scored. The player with the lowest score for a series of nine hands, or “holes,” is determined to be the winner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/795,503, entitled “Card Game” and filed on Apr. 27, 2006, such application being incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to card games, and in particular to card games using a deck of cards wherein each card is assigned a numerical point value and a final score is tabulated based upon the presence and arrangement of such cards in each player's board at the end of the game.

Various types of card games have been played since ancient times. Both luck and skill are factors in determining the winner in most card games. Luck may be present, for example, in the particular distribution of cards dealt to each player at the beginning of a game, or the cards that are drawn by a player in those games involving a draw. Skill may be involved in the player's ability to remember the value of cards (either controlled by that player or another player) that are visible at times, but turned face down, discarded, or covered at other times. Skill may also be involved in the player's determination of the odds of success with respect to alternative possible plays during the game, such as the choice of drawing a card from a draw stock or playing another card that may be available, possibly based partially on the player's memory of what cards have already seen play during the game.

Many card games involve cards that are assigned a numeric value, either on the face of the card or according to the rules of the game, and wherein the value of cards controlled by a player at the end of the game determines the player's score. The object of such games is to accumulate a particular set or sequence of cards during game play. In some games, the numerical value of the cards may be used both for matching or sequencing purposes, and for assigning a point value for each player once the game ends. Gin rummy is a popular card game in this category.

Many card games also involve the distribution of cards to players in a face-down configuration. Such games include the poker card games of Texas hold 'em and five- and seven-card stud. Both of these games involve cards that are visible to all players as well as “hole” cards that are visible only to the player to whom they are dealt. In other card games, a player is dealt cards face down that the player cannot look at until such cards are turned face up according to the rules of the game; blind poker is an example of such a game. Because the player must make bets on the strength of his or her hand without seeing even the entirety of his or her own hand, such games add an additional level of excitement as each player waits to see the value of cards as they are turned up during game play.

In addition, there are numerous card games that include various themes of interest to players. Even where the themes themselves may not directly impact game play, they add interest to the games for certain players who enjoy the particular theme employed. Examples include the anime fantasy theme of the popular Pokémon trading card game for children distributed by Pokémon USA of New York, N.Y. In some examples, the mechanics of the game may be influenced by the particular theme chosen; for example, in the Topps Total baseball-themed card game from the Topps Company, Inc., of New York, N.Y., each player begins play with a “starting line-up” of nine cards, in addition to a bullpen/bench card pile.

Finally, many types of games include the element of placing items into a particular pattern, such as rows or columns, in order to score points or win the game. Perhaps the simplest such game is tic-tac-toe. The applicant is unaware of any card game, however, that combines the excitement of face-down cards dealt to a player and which the player may not initially view with the skill of building cards into a particular pattern in order to score points and win the game. The applicant is further unaware of a game that combines these features with a sports theme to add additional excitement to the game.

References mentioned in this background section are not admitted to be prior art with respect to the present invention.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a card game in which cards are dealt to each player in a particular pattern, such as, for example, a grid. While these cards are dealt face down initially, the cards may be turned up during game play. The cards may be turned face up by replacement or by rule allowing the face-down card to be turned face-up. The scoring of the game is dependent not only on the value of the cards in each player's board, but also the arrangement of those cards. In certain embodiments, the card game that is the subject of the invention is directed to a sports theme, particularly golf, although the invention is not so limited.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for a card game that combines the elements of face-down cards dealt to each player with the object of building cards into a particular pattern in order to score points and win the game.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for such a game that features a sports theme for additional excitement during game play.

These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings as described following:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the board layout of an example card game with three player according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2-15 each illustrate a particular card in a card deck according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

With reference to FIGS. 1-15, the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be described. The cards used for the preferred embodiment are made from paper or similar materials, and coated with a plastic protective coating as is known in the art. The preferred embodiment uses a deck of cards that reference the game of golf, as shown in FIGS. 2-15, although in other embodiments other games could be referenced; a non-sports theme could be used; or the cards could be created without reference to any particular theme.

The preferred size of a deck is 168 cards, although other size decks are possible in alternative embodiments. The deck is preferably composed of those cards shown in FIG. 2-15, with quantities of each card as shown in the following table:

Value Card Name No. −2 wild card 12 0 eagle 12 1 birdie 12 2 par 12 3 bogie 12 4 fore 12 5 reaching 12 6 having doubts 12 7 oh man 12 8 dog leg 12 9 last request 12 10 in the rough 12 10 sand trap 12 10 care for a swim 12

The game according to the preferred embodiment may be played with two or more players. One person is designated as the dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck of cards and distributes cards individually in a clockwise manner beginning to the dealer's left, until each player has a total of six cards. The cards are distributed face down and, in the preferred embodiment, arranged by each player into a 3×2 grid pattern, as shown in FIG. 1 for the example of three players. As depicted in FIG. 1, player 1 controls cards 10A-F; player 2 controls cards 12A-F; and player 3 controls cards 14A-F. The remaining undealt cards are placed face down in the center of the table to form drawing stock 16. The top card of drawing stock 16 is turned face up and placed beside drawing stock 16 to begin discard pile 18.

Before play begins, each player selects two of the cards in his or her board and turns them face up. The other cards in a players' board may not be turned face up until they are discarded or turned face up during the course of play, as will be explained below, or at the end of the game when all remaining face-down cards are turned face up for the purpose of scoring.

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer, and each player's turn proceeds in a clockwise manner around the table. During each player's turn, that player must either draw the top card from drawing stock 16, or draw the (face-up) top card of discard pile 18. The player may view the card chosen from drawing stock 16. The chosen card may then be used to replace any one of the six cards in that players' board. For example, on player 1's turn, that player may replace any of cards 10A-F with a card drawn from either drawing stock 16 or discard pile 18. If the player chooses to replace a card in his or her board that is currently face down, the player may not look at the card to be replaced prior to making the decision to replace the card. The replaced card is removed from the player's board and placed face up on top of discard pile 18. The chosen card (from either drawing stock 16 or discard pile 18) is placed in the position that the removed card formerly occupied. Play then proceeds clockwise to the next player.

As an alternative to the play described above, a player may draw a card from drawing stock 16 and determine that the player does not wish to replace any card in his or her board with the drawn card after viewing the drawn card. In that case, the player may simply move the drawn card (face up) to discard pile 18. A player may not, however, select a card from discard pile 18, and then discard that same card to discard pile 18, thereby leaving the position of all cards in the game unchanged. A card drawn from discard pile 18 must be used to replace one of the cards in the drawing player's board.

Once any player's board reaches a position where all six cards are positioned face up, each of the other players take one additional turn, in clockwise order, before the game reaches its end. Each remaining face-down card in each players' board is then turned face up for the purpose of scoring. Each card bearing a numeral scores its face value for the player. Thus in the preferred embodiment, a wildcard card is scored at minus two points; a hole-in-one card is scored at zero points; a birdie card is scored at one point; an eagle card is scored at two points; a “3” card is scored at three points; a “4” card is scored at four points; a “5” card is scored at five points; a “6” card is scored at six points; a “7” card is scored at seven points; an “8” card is scored at eight points; a “9” card is scored at nine points; and each of the three types of trap card is scored at 10 points.

A pair of cards (that is, two cards that are identical not only in numerical value but also their text) that appear in the same column of a player's board scores zero total points for the column. In effect, the cards cancel each other out. For example, if two sand trap cards appear in the same column of a player's board—such as cards 10B and 10E of player 1's board as shown in FIG. 1—then the total score for that column would be zero points. If, however, two different cards appear in the same column, then no point deduction is allowed, even if those cards have the same point value. For example, if card 10B in player 1's board was a “sand trap” card, but card 10E was an “in the pond” card, then the total score for that column would be twenty points.

The player with the lowest score for the game or “hole” is declared the winner of that hole. Preferably, a game may consist of nine holes, with a cumulative score kept for each hole and the player with the lowest overall score winning the game. It may be seen that a key strategy of the game according to the preferred embodiment is to align like cards in each column of a player's board where possible, while simultaneously trying to prevent other players from accomplishing this goal.

The present invention has been described with reference to certain preferred and alternative embodiments that are intended to be exemplary only and not limiting to the full scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, and not by way of limitation, the invention is not limited to a golf theme, and is not limited to the particular 3×2 grid arrangement of cards as described herein. Cards of other design and value may be substituted for those described, and the deck size may be varied and quantity of each card type may be varied within the scope of the invention. 

1. A method for playing a card game on a play area with a deck comprised of a plurality of cards, and each card comprising a face, comprising the steps of: (a) dealing a plurality of cards from the deck of cards to each of a plurality of players; (b) arranging the cards dealt to each player into a pattern to form a board for each player on the play area; (c) placing the remaining cards from the deck in a drawing stock on the play area; (d) creating a discard pile on the play area; (e) on a designated player's turn, allowing the designated player to select either a card from the drawing stock or a card from the discard pile; and (f) on a designated player's turn, allowing the designated player to choose to either replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card or place the selected card in the discard pile.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of turning at least one of the cards dealt to each player face up before play begins.
 3. The method of claim 2, comprising the step of turning two of the cards dealt to each player face up before play begins.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein each board is formed in a grid pattern.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein each board is formed in a grid pattern comprising columns of two cards in height and rows of three cards in width.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the deck comprises 160 cards.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the face of at least a first subset of the plurality of cards bears a numerical value.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the face of at least a second subset of the plurality of cards bears sports-theme indicia.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the face of the at least a second subset of the plurality of cards bears golf-theme indicia.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of arranging the cards dealt to each player into a pattern is performed without any of said plurality of players looking at the face of the cards.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of forming the discard pile comprises the step of turning the top card of the drawing stock face up.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of allowing the designated player to choose to either replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card or place the selected card in the discard pile comprises the step of, if a card from the drawing stock is selected, allowing the designated player to replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card face up or place the selected card in the discard pile, or, if a card in the discard pile is selected, allowing the designated player only to replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card face up.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of additional players taking turns in succession until one player has all cards in such player's board turned face up and each other player has thereafter taken one turn.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein each card is associated with a numerical value, and further comprising the steps of: (a) turning each remaining face-down card in each player's board face up; and (b) assigning a score to each player.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said assigning a score to each player step comprises the step of assigning a numerical value to each card in each player's board.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein each player's board comprises one or more sections, and said assigning a score to each player step comprises the step of summing the numerical value of each card within each section, and then adding the sums for each section together to form a total score.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the sections are columns.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein said summing the numerical value of each card within each section comprises the step of, for each set of two identical cards within each such section, not counting the numerical value of each card in such set of two identical cards within such section to form the total score.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein a plurality of games are played and a cumulative score from each assigning a score to each player step for each game is assigned to determine a winning player.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the player with the lowest cumulative score is determined to be the winning player. 